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WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released on Monday a sexually suggestive letter to Jeffrey Epstein purportedly signed by President Donald Trump, which he has denied.
Trump has said he did not write the letter or create the drawing of a curvaceous woman that surrounds the letter. He filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for a report on the alleged letter.
The letter was included as part of a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein’s birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee received a copy of the birthday album on Monday as part of a batch of documents from Epstein’s estate.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
After the letter was released, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich posted pictures on X of Trump’s signature and tagged The Wall Street Journal’s parent corporation, News Corp., writing: “Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature. DEFAMATION!”
Trump has denied writing the letter and creating the drawing, calling a report on it “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” Trump said.
The letter released by the committee looks exactly as described by the The Wall Street Journal in its report.
The letter bearing Trump’s name and signature includes text framed by a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a curvaceous woman.
“A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the letter says.
The letter’s disclosure comes amid a bipartisan push in Congress for the release of the so-called Epstein files amid years of speculation and conspiracy theories. Calls for the release of the records came from Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance before he was sworn into the country’s No. 2 position.
Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that said he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls. The case was brought more than a decade after he secretly cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of nearly identical allegations. Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.
Trump’s ties to Epstein have been well-documented, though he said they had a falling-out two decades ago. He has said he kicked the financier out of his private club in Florida after Epstein betrayed him more than once by hiring people who had worked for him.
The president has not been accused of misconduct in connection with their social relationship.
The Justice Department in August began turning over records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation to the House Oversight Committee.
The committee subpoenaed the Epstein estate for documents last month. In addition to the birthday book, lawmakers requested Epstein’s last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.
Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press
